Jordan gives UO one all-league pass rusher, and Lokombo hopes to make two

The recent standard for pass-rushing tandems at Oregon was set four seasons ago, when ends Nick Reed and Will Tukuafu combined for 20 1/2 quarterback sacks in 2008.

That outdid several other dangerous duos from the three decades that sacks have been an official statistic. Ernest Jones and Jeff Cummins teamed up for 19 1/2 in 1992; two years earlier, Matt LaBounty and Marcus Woods combined for 18, and threes duos have had 17.

Whether a current twosome could be so prolific remains to be seen, and will be a challenge based on Oregon’s frequent substitutions on defense. But in outside linebackers Dion Jordan and Boseko Lokombo, Oregon has as athletic a pass-rushing combo as the defense has ever seen, a valuable asset in a league that boasts dangerous drop-back passing teams such as USC, Washington, Stanford and Arizona State.

Jordan, who led the Ducks with 7 1/2 sacks a year ago, is a returning all-Pac-12 player whose work ethic and knowledge of the defense are nearly unparalleled among teammates. A big-play producer in two years as a reserve, Lokombo is expected to break into the starting lineup as a junior, replacing Josh Kaddu as Oregon’s defensive bookend opposite Jordan.

Freakishly athletic and blossoming as a physical presence, Lokombo now needs only to improve his mastery of the UO defense to reach his potential, which figures to come with added experience. Then, the duo of Jordan and Lokombo will become a thing of quarterbacks’ nightmares.